Novel Approach for Jammer Suppression

During Phase I, MARK Resources very successfully demonstrated the feasibility of using a distributed aperture radar to suppress mainlobe noise jammers, but not returns from nearby threats, by linearly combining the signals received by the multiple antennas. The processing that we developed applies to dish antennas as well as to phased-array antennas. We applied the automated algorithms to simulated data of jammers plus targets, typically suppressing a single jammer by about 65 dB and two jammers by about 50 dB. Most threat objects in the mainlobe, by far, are not suppressed at all by the same processing that suppresses the jammers. The implementation requirements are similar to those for conventional multistatic and noise radars. In Phase II, we propose to develop prototype automated software that, by combining the signals received by a distributed aperture BMDS radar system, suppresses mainlobe jammers but not radar returns from nearby threats, and locates the threats. To this end, we will refine and automate the algorithms developed in Phase I; establish their performance for BMD scenarios via simulation; demonstrate their performance on data collected by a distributed aperture radar system; and determine detailed implementation requirements for BMD. We have teamed with Raytheon to facilitate transition.